The straight dope on Italian health and medical care, from an American woman doctor who lives and works in Rome. Her memoir, Dottoressa, will be published in May 2019.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

A Medical Error

drawing by Suzanne Dunaway

He’s a dermatology
Chief Of Staff, she’s a prominent psychoanalyst, both have offices in their
mammoth apartment in a classy Rome neighborhood. One afternoon she greeted a
new patient, had him lie down on the analytic couch, and got him talking. For
20 minutes she listened from behind his head, emitting an occasional “um-hmm,”
then made a first stab at an interpretation: “You seem very focused on your
psoriasis. I wonder what all this concern might come from.” He replied, “Of
course I’m focused on my psoriasis, that’s why I took an appointment with the
dermatologist.” This is a true story.

Welcome back to Stethoscope On Rome! As an adoptive Italian I wouldn't dream of posting in August...

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About Me

I moved to Rome in 1978 after finishing my training in New York, and have been practicing primary care internal medicine there ever since, treating a clientele that’s featured Roman auto mechanics and British ambassadors, Indonesian art restorers and Filipina maids, Russian poets and Ethiopian priests. When not seeing patients, doing research in psychosomatic medicine, or being the Artist's Wife to my composer husband, I've written a book about my medical adventures, Dottoressa: An American Doctor In Rome, to be published by Paul Dry Books in May 2019.